echoes
by thelonelyclarinetist
Summary: And there he stood, at the edge of the world as they knew it, staring at the beginning, the end, and everything in between. But in the midst of the crumbling dark, he caught sight of the face of his brother, and for the first time he felt completely and utterly unafraid.
1. nulla

**_y'all thought you'd seen the last of me_**

uhh anybody remember that one fic i posted then deleted before it got anywhere? yeah i'm rebooting it lol

anyway uhh no ships as far as i know; there's some implied chriviva but that's about it :y

aight enjoy i gotta get out of this practice room before i suffocate lmao

* * *

 ** _"accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."_**

 ** _– marcus aurelius_**

This was the third time this month.

Chris awoke with a start, but when he came to his senses he realized he was not lying in his bed. No warm embrace of the sheets welcomed his goosebumped skin, no familiar sound of his elder brother's snoring buoyed about the room. In fact, he wasn't in his room at all; when his bearings were gathered, the younger Kratt found that he was standing at the edge of the Tortuga's open exit, the cold breezes of the outside world whistling lethargically among a silent, starlit sky.

He was sleepwalking again.

This was the closest he'd ever gotten to actually exiting their base of operations. The first time he snapped out of his daze, he found himself face to face with the bedroom door. The second time found him sprawled out in the middle of the main room. Now, the moonlit Alaskan tundra was the sight that Chris's hazy eyes were greeted by.

Sounds of faraway wildlife whispered to him as he closed the exit hatch. Warmth swirled around the bitter draft as the door hissed closed.

It was strange; every time he would find himself in this situation, any inkling of what his sleeping body might have been doing would quickly fade away. He'd done a bit of research on the issue in the past, but nothing seemed to be pointing to why this was happening. Nobody in his family had suffered from somnambulism, as far as he knew, and the rest of the Wild Kratts never pointed it out to him, so it was safe to assume that whatever was happening to him was a new occurrence – but what was causing it?

A yawn crawled up Chris's throat as he shuffled across the main room, ultimately deciding to sink into a chair rather than heading back to bed. He was wide awake by this point, anyhow. Droopy brown eyes trailed up towards the ceiling, where tiny stars twinkled through the giant glass panes. Clouds floated along in thin contrails, weaving between the speckled navy fabric blanketed across the sky. A small exhale hissed through Chris's nostrils, and he folded his hands over his torso as he settled further into his seat.

It was the same dream, he observed, that would cause him to wake up in the middle of the night like this, standing in the middle of the Tortuga with no memory of how he even ended up that way. The dream itself was vague, but after experiencing it for a third time, the pattern was clear enough: dark caves, claustrophobic tunnels, and a giant _something_ watching his every move.

He never stayed asleep long enough to encounter that looming presence, but the very thought of it was enough to send a sense of awful, inexplicable dread pressing down into his chest. He was mostly dismissive of the whole thing, but a small part of him longed to know more. The dream, however hazy it was to him in the waking world, was vivid enough to capture some sort of interest. After all, dreams shouldn't be influencing his thoughts as much as this one has.

His head leaned forward and slid off the back of the chair. He wanted to get up and grab his Creature Pod, or a book, or anything else to keep him busy, but his lethargic body made no effort to go anywhere fast. A distant feeling of boredom settled into the back of his mind.

Something in the corner of the room caught his eye. A soft shadow crept across the floor, hugging the molding of the wall as it slithered to its destination. Chris daren't move, but it was more out of simply not wanting to than out of caution. Possibly just the shadows from the tree, or so he figured. Despite his dismissiveness, however, he just couldn't shake the feeling that it was more than his imagination.

The shadow mingled with the cradling shade of the machinery and disappeared. No point in worrying about it now.

A slight change in his surroundings prompted Chris's eyes to glance back upwards. Through the glass panes, the navy blue fabric of the night was receding into lighter hues. Sunrise. The rest of the crew would be waking up soon.

Chris took that as his cue to do something productive. Standing up, he headed to the kitchen, not minding all the cold air he let in.


	2. i

It was Aviva who had woken up first. Her slippers scraped quietly against the tile floor, purple bathrobe draped over her shoulders and belt tied lazily around her waist. Chris didn't hear her come in. Elbows propped on the counter, his eyes trained towards the coffee machine, unblinking, staring at nothing in particular.

For a long minute, the two were silent, coexisting in the room as though they were traveling on parallel lines; neither person acknowledged the other. Aviva, at least, was aware of the young man standing on the other side of the room.

She had grabbed a bowl from the counter, but the food she was looking for was on the other end of the kitchen. Striding towards her destination, she took this as her chance to finally break the silence. "Morning, CK," she said, careful not to hit Chris's head with the cupboard door.

The younger Kratt turned his head toward the source of the voice, staring at Aviva. He looked as though he had snapped out of a trance. "...Morning," he replied simply. His voice was raspy and flat-toned. Chris subconsciously cleared his throat and returned to watching the coffee machine.

Aviva raised an eyebrow at her friend's response. He was no Martin, but Chris, like his brother, was normally raring to go the moment he woke up. To hear him sound so dead like this was a first. She figured it wasn't anything to worry about, though; the brothers _did_ return to the Tortuga late last night, so waking up this early was bound to take a toll on Chris.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Aviva tried to ride off of this conclusion in attempt to hold up some small talk.

Chris shrugged. "Could've been better. I only slept for a couple hours."

"A couple hours?" Aviva poured the cereal she had retrieved from the cupboard into the bowl, scowling into her reflection on the counter. "You gotta get a little more sleep than that."

"I'll be fine…" he muttered, waving her words away. The light on the coffee machine started blinking, cueing Chris to change the subject. "Coffee's ready. You want some?"

"Please."

Their short exchange was brought to a close when the kitchen door slid open again. The rest of the crew was now awake, filing in to get whatever form of breakfast they were in the mood for and then going about their business. Jimmy trotted in first, making a beeline for the fridge to grab last night's pizza rolls to pop in the microwave. Right behind him was Koki and Martin, who exchanged cheery greetings to the others in the room and helped themselves to whatever was available. Martin's gaze fell to Chris, and his lips curled into a vibrant smile. The younger Kratt could feel his elder brother's hand pat firmly on his shoulder, and he could hear words coming from his mouth, but nothing registered. Chris simply smiled and nodded back, hoping whatever Martin said wasn't a question. All the while, he stood quietly, letting the soft burning sensation of the coffee mug permeate in his hands. He could feel a headache coming on; perhaps he should've tried getting a little more sleep, after all.

The alarms that suddenly blared about the whole facility didn't help his case. Five pairs of startled eyes shot to the ceiling, as though whatever was making that noise was to be found just above them. The obnoxious alarm and the flashing red lights coming from the main room signaled something in need of urgent attention.

Aviva and Koki were the first to exchange confused looks. The Tortuga's communication systems were always online, but they didn't normally receive urgent calls this early in the day. The two women set their mugs down and rushed out the door, and after a short hesitation, Martin and Chris followed suit.

"Who could be calling us this early?" Koki wondered aloud as she slid into the seat. Aviva seemed to share her sentiment; it was subtle, but the look on her face said that she longed for at least a little time to enjoy her coffee before they got to work for the day.

Brow furrowed, Koki typed madly on the keyboard, and the massive screen before her opened the communications window. To everyone's surprise, the notification wasn't for a call. Instead, a breaking news headline appeared on the screen, the bold letters painted margin to margin.

" _Massive Shockwave Rocks Central Russia,_ " Koki read aloud. "Earlier this evening, at around 10:30 PM IRKT, a recorded 7.4 earthquake stirred the night life in Bratsk and surrounding cities. Luckily, no fatalities have been reported as of yet, but the cost of destruction is quickly climbing into the millions. Currently, the source and cause of the tremors have not been identified, but experts have estimated that the epicenter is located in the forests of central Siberia, away from any major cities. More details to come."

It was then when Jimmy caught up with everyone else, bowl of pizza rolls cradled in his arms. When he followed everyone's gaze up to the screen, he nearly choked on a mouthful of cheese and tomato sauce. He hastily swallowed his food, wiping the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

"What do you think _that's_ all about?" He inquired, his face contorting into a look of worry.

Koki pursed her lips. "I don't know, Jimmy," she said, "but we don't get headlines like this unless it's a major threat to wildlife."

"You think we should check it out?" Martin chimed in, his tone heavy with apprehension. "I mean, we wouldn't be getting an alarm like this if it wasn't that bad…and I can only imagine what the epicenter looks like."

The last few words of Martin's remark was emphasized by his eyes trailing to the floor. Aviva nodded solemnly, knowing the elder Kratt must have been thinking of the wildlife that may have been caught up in the worst of it.

"Martin's got a point," she found a seat in front of one of the other computers, calling over her shoulder. "Jimmy, set a course for Siberia. We're checking this out."

Without missing a beat, Jimmy dashed out of the room and into the cockpit, the scent of freshly-cooked pizza rolls carrying his "Aye-aye, cap'n!" away through the door. The remaining four crewmembers sat in relative silence, and after a minute or so, the low hum of the Tortuga's engines breathed life into the HQ's walls.

Chris looked up when he saw Martin approaching him. The green-clad brother crossed his arms and glanced back at the screen, which now showed a map of the world complete with an icon indicating the Tortuga's relative location.

"Do you think everything's okay over there?" Chris asked, more to himself than to his brother.

Martin shrugged. "I know it's not anything we can control," he said. "Natural disasters happen all the time. Some of the animals probably got a little shaken up, that's all."

Younger eyes peered at older ones. " _A little?_ The place just smashed face-first into the ceiling of the Richter Scale."

"Ugh, don't put that image in my brain," Martin squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "I'm trying to think positive here, bro."

"Right, I'm sorry." Chris frowned. On the screen, the Tortuga was quickly making its way towards central Russia, heading due west at a steady pace.

It wasn't that Chris was being pessimistic – he worried about the affected wildlife just as much as his brother – but something about the whole thing just didn't seem… _right._ If he was doing the math correctly, Alaska and Siberia were only seven hours apart, meaning that whatever was going on in Russia happened at the time he had woken up. Surely it was just a coincidence; he and Martin had a tendency of waking up early, anyway. He could've woken up at any other time, he figured, and the earthquake still would have occurred at the time it did. But despite all his personal reassuring, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Minutes passed in relative silence. Chris had found a seat on the table in the center of the room and observed the other three in the room with him. Martin paced about for a few minutes before he retreated to change out of his pajamas, while Koki and Aviva opted to stay. The two women typed furiously into their respective keyboards, pausing every so often to glance up at the screen and scroll through whatever windows they had pulled up. Chris figured he needed to change out of his sleepwear as well, but he couldn't take his eyes off of the map displayed on the main screen. The Tortuga icon continued moving west, passing over the Pacific until it finally found itself over land again. They would be reaching their destination soon.

Before Chris could hop off the ledge, however, the door to the cockpit opened again, and Jimmy peeked through, eyes wide in alarm. His eyes darted from one crewmember to the other, eventually trailing up to the mezzanine above them. Chris followed his gaze to see that Martin was passing overhead, now wearing his usual attire.

Chris turned back to Jimmy. "What is it?"

"Get in here," he stated, paling as though he'd seen a ghost. Everyone's eyes were now on the ginger. "You guys gotta see this."

Chris exchanged puzzled looks with Aviva and Koki, and he could hear the metallic thudding of Martin's footsteps as he made his way back to the first floor. Ahead of him, Chris could hear Aviva inquiring about what was going on, followed by Jimmy stuttering and falling flat on his words. Koki said something over him, but it was lost in the sound of the door sliding closed behind Martin as he caught up with the group.

The Tortuga was traveling quickly over a mass of fallen trees, and even from this height they could all clearly tell that this was the epicenter of the quake. But it wasn't the vast area the destruction covered that caught their attention.

"What did you want to show us, Jimmy?" Martin glanced around the cockpit, waiting for an answer, but none came. He frowned in confusion. "...Jimmy?"

But Jimmy didn't answer. He was seated at the wheel again, hands clasping onto the handles as though his life depended on it. Something about his gaze looked _haunted,_ staring out of the window directly in front of him like he was gazing at the face of the Grim Reaper himself. Martin followed his line of sight, and his heart nearly stopped.


	3. idk man just take it

_**so i posted this to tumblr like 2 and a half months ago and just now realized that i never copy pasted it to this site's copy of the story. hate to say it, but i've been super burnt out creatively for the past year or so and i literally don't have the energy to create things anymore. life sucks and school is stressful; i need to focus my energies elsewhere and unfortunately it can't be to the things i used to love doing. i abandoned echoes long before it even started but people seemed to like it, so i figured y'all at least deserve to know how it was supposed to go down. if you have any questions about the story just dm me or something idfk how this website works skdjfsdkhfskdf**_

okay this ended up being Very Very Long but here's basically Echoes's plotline starting from where chapter 2 left off to the end :y

i'm really sorry i didn't end up finishing it, but i hope y'all enjoy the plot as much as i did. i wish i could've written this out, but seeing as it took up like 8 pages in the plot summary alone i doubt i would've been able to finish it anyway asjdfasdf

So Jimmy pilots the Tortuga to Siberia and the crew stumbles upon a 30-mile-long crack in the ground with a holographic-colored haze coming out of the depths. The forest is fine for the most part, but the land lining the crack is completely barren. Martin and Chris travel on the Buzz Bikes to investigate, but they end up walking the rest of the way when Martin's engine suddenly shorts out. The bros walk up to the edge and look down into the pit, but the second they do, Chris gets a split-second vision; the world is burning, Martin's gone, and deep down in the chasm, a giant pair of eyes is glaring up at him. Martin snaps him out of it, and the bros head back.

At the Tortuga, Martin and Chris go over what they found, but are cut off when multiple calls from around the world start flooding in. Koki puts them all on a group call, revealing Wild Kratts Kids from Africa, Brazil, Canada, and North America. They're all in distress about the same thing: not too far from their homes, a tremor has opened up a crack in the ground with the same haze as the one in Siberia. Since they can't be at five places at once, the crew decides to start in America. They hang up and head out.

In America, the group meets with Gavin and Ronan, who point them to the (much smaller) chasm they were talking about. When they head there, Chris gets a stinging headache, but it subsides quickly. It's the same as in Siberia; the tremor drove out all of the wildlife, and now eveything is still — except for one thing.

Jimmy decided to stay behind with Koki so they could do some repairs on one of the Tortuga's legs. As they're working, Jimmy notices something out of the corner of his eye, but nothing's there. After a few more glances, he realizes that he's come face to face with — as crazy as it sounds — a unicorn.

Jimmy's on the verge of freaking out when Koki takes note of this, too. However, the unicorn seems angry or distressed, and it starts kicking and bucking at the two. Meanwhile, Martin, Chris, and Aviva have run into something similar, but this time it's a whole herd of them.

Long story short, the unicorns were stampeding from somewhere near the chasm and were headed straight for town, so in an attempt to stop them, the crew dons the CPSes and uses different power suits to herd the animals away. Once they calm down, Chris and Martin stop to consider what the heck they're looking at, but the moment they come in contact with one, they all disappear. Coincidentally, the haze coming out of the crack has also disappeared.

Shaken up but still happy that they solved the issue, the crew (plus the kids) meet back up at the Tortuga to figure out their next plan of action. At one point, Jimmy remarks that this whole thing reminds him of a bedtime story his grandma Jimmina used to tell him:

Millions of years ago, when Earth was first being formed, a giant snake encircled the world and brought order to the chaos that occured for the first few thousand years. When the surface cooled, the snake disappeared beneath the surface, protecting the world from behind the scenes and maintaining natural order. This persisted until civilization came along, and from there the snake promised to protect the world for a price; since mankind had a tendency to bring chaos to the world, they were to send two vessels every few thousand years to the snake to continue keeping the environment at peace. If they failed to do so for too long, the snake will grow impatient, and the world will begin to fall into chaos.

Jimmy insists that his grandma only told him this story to keep him behaved, but it leaves Chris thinking, especially since he's been having all those dreams lately. He voices his concern without revealing anything about his visions, and the group decides they need to find out more about what's going on. Cue Martin saying "I know someone who can help us!" and cutting to a an apartment near a university campus in New Jersey.

Chris and Martin head to one of the rooms, and Martin knocks on the door. A young woman named Kiara answers the door, and after jogging her memory for a moment, Kiara realizes that Martin is the same Martin she went to high school with. She grumpily questions why he and his brother are here, and after Martin starts to explain, she lets them in to talk about the issue.

Kiara's majoring in Mythology and Folklore, so lucky for them she knows the most about the situation at hand. Continuing from where Jimmy left off, she explains that the "world snake" from the story is called the Ouroboros, and the reason these "twin vessels" are needed to keep it happy is because it diverts energy away from heading up to the surface and ends up dissipating before it turns into anything harmful. Without the vessels, the energy will seep to the surface and pretty much cause the planet to explode.

Everything seems to be lining up to the story except for one thing: environmental patterns clearly show when the Eternal Return (the name for when the vessels are sent down, according to legends) is supposed to occur, but the last time this happened was only 150 years ago. The cracks in the ground are a late symptom and definitely shouldn't be showing up before the preliminary disturbances, so something suspicious is definitely going on there. From the rate things are going – and if they're to believe the story is true – then the world only has about 3-4 days before the next phase of the Return begins. As for the unicorns, Kiara's stumped (and kinda in disbelief). She tells them she'll get back to them on that one, and the brothers leave.

After relaying the info to the rest of the crew, the Tortuga heads off to the next location to put a stop to whatever chaos is going down there. Unbeknownst to them, however, a spying Zachbot saves a recording of their conversation and flies off in the other direction.

At Canada, Brazil, and Africa, the crew goes through a similar pattern of events as they did back in America; mythological creature that aligns to local folklore shows up, they subdue the disturbance, and the creatures disappear. Aviva's visibly bummed that they can't keep them around long enough to research these creatures to make a Power Disk, but at this point it's really the least of their worries.

On their last night in Africa, Chris tosses and turns for most of the night and finally decides to get up for a bit. After walking to the kitchen, he realizes that he smells something burning, but it's nothing in this room. A little investigating makes him realize that the burning isn't coming from inside, but outside. When he opens the main door leading out, however, the Tortuga is no longer parked in Africa; instead, it's back in Siberia, where the same vision he had upon looking down into the first crack is playing out again. Horrified, Chris looks on, and in the distance, a colossal snake comes slithering out of the chasm, looks directly at him, and makes a beeline straight for the HQ.

Aviva is the one to snap him out of it, explaining that he was sleepwalking again and that he had started screaming. Luckily, no one else was awakened, but the two end up spending the rest of the night sitting outside. After some small talk, Chris confesses that he's been having recurring nightmares that are getting increasingly worse as this whole thing plays out. Ever since the cracks opened, he's been dreading the presence of a giant snake reminiscent of the one in the legend, and they're starting to get worse. Aviva suggests they tell the rest of the crew about it in the morning.

Martin's the most taken aback by this when they do tell the others. He feels terrible that he didn't catch on to Chris's problem earlier, and from there he vows to help him in any way he can. After this exchange, the crew decides to head back to the Siberian chasm to see if they missed anything (since this one was the only active one left, according to Aviva). There, they run into Zach, whose airship is parked near the edge of the wasteland, which has significantly grown in size since the last time they were there. When they encounter him, they find him ordering his Zachbots to carry crates of minerals similar to the ones found in the chasm into the airship, and after putting two and two together, they realize that he may have been responsible for the tremors around the world. However, Zach reveals that he only knows about the one here in Siberia, and when he acts clueless about the other cracks, the crew decides to sit him down and catch him up. If he knows about what happened here, he may be able to help.

Zach is left incredulous after the crew's very long explanation, but Chris, whose patience is worn thin as a result of sleep deprivation and prolonged frustration, curtly pleads him to cooperate. Hesitantly, Zach complies, and he explains that a week ago, his robots had picked up on a massive energy source in this area. Hoping to harness that energy to fuel his own technology, Zach ordered a few Zachbots to investigate a small cavern, but the cave system reached much deeper than he had expected. When he finally found the edge of the source, he had his Zachbots mine into it, but the moment they came in contact, it triggered a massive explosion and destroyed all of his robots nearby. It also shorted out his airship, leaving him stranded here until he could get it running again. According to him, the chemicals that had been released by the explosion were extremely corrosive; any machinery that had entered the wasteland surrounding the chasm was shorted out and destroyed within seconds (which also explains why Martin's Buzz Bike engine was acting weird the first time they visited).

As if on cue, a call from Kiara comes in through the big screen. Koki answers it, and a very excitable Kiara explains that she's found the reasoning behind the encounters with the mythological creatures around the world. As it turns out, the holographic haze coming from the chasms is actually reminiscent of the same kind of gases found in places like, say the Oracle at Delphi. Aviva catches on and looks back over her notes she took on the gases, and upon review realizes that the haze is a mix between a deliriant and a carbogen – which, in plain English, are both classified as hallucinogens. This explains why the mythical creatures were appearing and then quickly disappearing after they were subdued.

So now the crew knows that the chasms were (at least partially) caused by a mining accident caused by Zach, but the first explosion was only a precursor to what was going to happen to the rest of the world. The four other cracks are in the Americas and in Africa, all of which they place on the map for examination. After some discussion, Martin steps forward and deduces that the cracks were firstly nowhere near any type of major fault line. Up until that point, the running theory was that natural earthquakes mixed with some sort of underground explosion had caused these cracks to open, but since none of them are placed near the biggest suspect locations, that rules out that idea. Secondly, the position and direction of the chasms reveal that they all roughly form some sort of circle, a boundary of sorts. Kiara, who's still on call, points out that this is yet another symptom of the Return; the chasms are outlining the spot where the Ouroboros will rise. Seeing as the border encircles most of the Atlantic, however, this gives the crew all the more reason to act fast.

This leaves only one unanswered question: if all of the other criteria for the legend has been met, who are the "twin vessels" the story talks about? After some pondering, Chris comes to a flooring realization; the vessels this time around are Martin and himself. Why else would he be having those visions, even before all of this started happening?

With no time to consider the alternatives, Kiara tells them that they, as the twin vessels, need to enter the chasm and find the Ouroboros before it breaks through the surface. With the worldwide tremors increasing by the hour, they only have til possibly the end of the day to find it. The brothers hesitantly grab their gear – CPS and all – and head out, but not before saying their goodbyes the crew.

Armed with a map of the known tunnels within the chasm courtesy of Zach, the bros make their descent. The first few tunnels are fine, but the deeper they go, the less signal they get of the Tortuga. At one point, another tremor hits as they enter a larger cavern, and the floor gives way beneath Chris. When he hits the bottom, he can no longer hear or see Martin. The two are separated for the time being.

After some individual exploring, Chris is hit with yet another vision, but this time it isn't of the Ouroboros. Instead, he sees two young children running ahead of him, and he follows them. They eventually lead him to an opening, where Martin emerges from the other side. The kids glance back at Chris before running off in another direction.

Reunited with Martin, Chris enthusiastically approaches him, but he slows down when he realizes that Martin's crying. Martin's whispering something about how the previous vessels were just kids, and Chris understands that he's no longer the only one seeing those visions. The two pause for a moment to comfort one another, and after Martin's had his fill of emotional breakdowns, the bros turn to the exit the vision kids ran off to and head out.

They eventually reach what they believe is the final room, a giant, open area with no perceived floor or ceiling beyond that of a small ledge surrounding the rim. The bros point their flashlights out into the center of the room, but the light bounces off a large wall with small, reflective particles. Upon approaching it, however, they realize that the particles are actually pitch-black scales, and the moment Chris reaches out to touch it, the wall quickly moves out of sight. Their view is then replaced with two slits of light, the same pair of eyes that had glared back at Chris only a few days before. They've found the Ouroboros, and it's angry.

The Ouroboros doesn't hesitate to attack the bros, and after it smashes its jaw into the wall, the bros are separated on either side of the snake. Martin uses his Peregrine Falcon disk and transforms, trying to get over to Chris. When he flies up, however, the Ouroboros matches his movements, and Martin is forced to weave in and out of the snake's attacks.

While the snake is busy with Martin, Chris tries to transform as well, but he remembers that his fall had broken the button on the CPS. Helpless, he watches his brother fight against the Ouroboros, searching desperately for a way to contribute. The vision kids appear again; the two are huddled, terrified but determined, against the wall, aiming slingshots up at something Chris can't see. It takes him a moment, but an idea dawns on him, and he runs the length of the ledge to try and get to Martin.

Unfortunately, Martin can't take much more bobbing and weaving, and in a minor slip-up, the Ouroboros sees its chance and lunges forward. One of its fangs gets caught in Martin's leg, slicing straight past it and incapacitating him. He tumbles to the ground, transforming back into his human form and scrambling painfully away. Since he can't move very fast, the Ouroboros has already turned around and is ready to finish him off. Martin flinches and turns away from the attacking snake, but he confusedly looks up when nothing happens.

To his surprise, Chris has calmly stepped between him and the Ouroboros, which apparently prompted the snake to stop in its tracks as well. It roars at him, but Chris stands his ground. He turns around and slowly helps Martin up, guiding him to the edge of the ledge. Together, the two hold out their hands, reaching out to the snake's muzzle and gently placing them against its scales. Chris quietly explains that all of the vessels before them fought against the Ouroboros, believing that they violence would solve the problem. The vessels were scared of their fate, but they weren't the only ones feeling that way. They didn't see it before, but behind all of the excess aggression, the Ouroboros was displaying all of the signs of a scared or threatened snake. It was terrified of the way it was treated, and it was time that Chris and Martin were the first to show it compassion and understanding.

Chris's theory turns out to be correct, and their act of gentleness prompts the Ouroboros to loosen up as well. Its vantablack scales slowly melt away to reveal a pure, almost glowing white body, and the Ouroboros pulls away and disappears into the chasm. Chris and Martin, meanwhile, collapse to the floor, exhausted. This is the final ramifications of being the vessels; the Ouroboros requires their life force to bring the world back to order.

Not long after, Martin slowly comes to, and he sees Chris out cold next to him. All around him, the cavern is crumbling, and the ceiling – however high up it may be – is threatening to fall on them at any moment. Still in pain from his leg injury, he crawls to Chris and hoists him up on his good side, limping to the exit with what little strength he had left. However, just before he makes it, a boulder crashes to the ground and blocks the only way out, knocking both brothers back and over the edge. Luckily, their fall is broken by a soft surface, and Martin looks around to see that the Ouroboros had returned. Carefully, it places the brothers on a safe spot on its head and slithers out of the main cavern, carrying them back to the entrance as the tunnels cave in on themselves. It drops them off at one of the entrance tunnels and disappears, falling rocks blocking the way back. Martin grabs his still-unconscious brother and drags him out of the caves and back into the forest. He lugs him along with all his might, but his hurt leg and drained life force becomes too much, and he collapses again.

He doesn't remember when it happened, but when Martin's senses focus again, he finds himself and Chris on the back of a Zachbot, with Zach following close behind on foot. Martin tries to say something, but Zach only gives him a side-eyeing look before walking on. He also notices that his leg is bandaged up, but he's too weak to address anything else. Eventually, Zach orders the Zachbot to let the bros down gently, albeit a bit begrudgingly. Martin and Zach look at one another for a moment, and Zach hastily tells him that the Tortuga's straight ahead and that "you owe me, Blue Boy." Martin turns to look ahead, where the Tortuga's lights can be seen through the trees. He turns back to thank Zach, but he and the Zachbot have disappeared.

Martin grabs Chris and hauls him back to the Tortuga, where the others rush to them and wrap them in a group hug, filled with overwhelming relief. The crew helps the bros back inside and into their rooms to nurse them back to health and get some sleep for the night. The world is saved, and they deserve a break.

Later that night, Chris stirs in his sleep and eventually comes to, turning his head to look at Martin on the other end of the room. The two have a short conversation about the events that had unfolded, and Martin explains how they escaped. He decides not to tell him that Zach was the one who ended up saving their lives. They contemplate about the legend and the Ouroboros itself, and wonder whether or not the next vessels will approach the snake with kindness the same way they did. Too tired to speak about anything else, both bros drift back to sleep, and for the first time in almost a month, Chris sleeps peacefully for the rest of the night.


End file.
